CROWS coach Brenton Sanderson refuses to separate the task of ending Adelaide’s yo-yo form line between the coaching staff and players — even if new board Mark Ricciuto is questioning who is to blame for the team’s erratic mindset.

As the 10th-placed Crows strive for consistency to qualify for next month’s top-eight AFL final series, Ricciuto’s blunt public assessment puts in doubt Sanderson’s command of his team.

“There is something wrong at Adelaide, either with the coach’s ability to get the players in the right mindset — or the players’ ability to get themselves in the right mindset,” Ricciuto said in his five-point post-mortem of the Crows on TripleM.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE BOTH TEAMS

But Sanderson argues this conclusion is too simplistic — and adds he has no qualms with Ricciuto being so forthright while straddling the difficult tightrope of being a board member at Adelaide and high-profile media commentator in radio, television and print.

“It is a unique situation because not too many clubs have a board member in the media,” Sanderson said.

“He has a job to do in the media. But whatever he says in the media he says to my face anyway.

“He is trying to make us better. I am trying to make us better. We’re both on the same page with that. We’re doing the very best that we can to ensure this club keeps improving.”

Matthew Jaensch says Crows are up for the challenge
0:51

Adelaide defender Matthew Jaensch says he is confident the Crows will bounch back from their 31-point loss to the West Coast Eagles when they take on the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.

Fox Sports

06 Aug 2014

Sport/AFL/News

Sanderson added: “I like to speak to ‘Roo’ a lot. We spend a lot of time face-to-face and on the telephone — even before he was a board member.”

On the key question of whether Ricciuto’s forthright assessments in the media carry more weight — and more consequence — by his presence on the Adelaide board, Sanderson said: “It is not an issue for me. I’ll get on with doing my job. That is the best way to sum it up.

“Anything Mark says publicly he has said to me privately as well. It is no issue.”

Among the five points Ricciuto put on the public agenda — that included the Crows’ on-field leaders failing under pressure and the player list not being up to winning an AFL flag — the Brownlow Medallist declared Sanderson was “outcoached” by West Coast’s rookie mentor Adam Simpson on Saturday during the 31-point loss at Adelaide Oval.

“It is debatable whether it was a coaching issue — a pure coaching issue,” Sanderson responded. “Normally, when you lose, the coach was poor. And when you win, the players were great.

“That is the reality of coaching — and I don’t lose too much sleep over that.

“People have their opinions and I have to live with that as a coach as well.”

Adelaide appears to need to win all of its remaining four home-and-away games — against Brisbane at the Gabba on Sunday, Richmond, North Melbourne and St Kilda — to qualify for its first final series since 2012.

But the Crows have not won four games in a row this season while they have bounced from good form to bad week after week.

Sanderson insists both coach and players must take responsibility for ending the roller-coaster ride.

“It is a combination (of coach and players),” he said.

“Ultimately, I coach the team and need to get the best out of my boys each week.

“My messages are the same whether we are playing the top side or the side that is 18th on the ladder. We prepare for every opposition exactly the same — to the same depth of opposition analysis and we build up every game internally exactly the same.

“Unfortunately we don’t get the output that we desire consistently enough.”

Sanderson again has defended his players’ work ethic against their inconsistent results.

“It is frustrating; it has been a real challenge for us as a group this year and I should reinforce that their effort has not changed,” he said.

“The effort is there consistently, but the output has not matched the effort consistently.

“Like any coach in any sport, we’re looking to replicate our best more often.

“Unfortunately, we have had some lapses in games — and some poor games, full stop.

“We have let ourselves down even in some of our really good wins this year when we have had a bad quarter or a patch of 15-20 minutes where we have really been quite poor.”

If it wasn’t season on the line for Adelaide last week, when they blew it against West Coast, it is tomorrow against the Lions. This is another one the Crows are expected win — and 2014 results suggest that’s what makes it a danger game. Adelaide simply can’t afford to drop another one, let alone to a struggling side. On their side, in what has been a yoyo year for the Crows, last week’s loss says tomorrow must deliver a win.

KEY POINT

Last week’s Brisbane v Melbourne game is the type you’d want to put in a time capsule — then detonate with more C4 than any Bruce Willis movie can throw at us. Common sense says the Lions don’t have the skill or the experience to match Adelaide — but neither did Melbourne when they beat the Crows in round seven, or West Coast last week. It won’t happen a third time.

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